British novelist and Nobel laureate Sir VS Naipaul dies at 85

Novelist Sir VS Naipaul, who won the Nobel Prize in literature, has died at his home in London aged 85, his family have said.

It is noted that the writer died at his home in the family circle.

Naipaul, a Briton of Indian origin, born in the Islands of Trinidad and Tobago, which at that time was a British colony, graduated from the University of Oxford. Naipaul later gained a lot of reputation as a wrote dozens of books, many of which dealt with colonialism and its dark legacy.

The judges also praised Naipaul for combining genres into his own style that compels readers "to see the presence of suppressed histories".

'Modern philosopher' Sir Vidia, who as a child was read Shakespeare and Dickens by his father, was raised as a Hindu and attended Queen's Royal College in Trinidad.

A House for Mr Biswas, published in 1961, is regarded as one of Mr Naipaul's most influential works.

Born to an Indian family in Trinidad, Naipaul's portraits of Africa, India, West Indies and the Islamic faith brought him hostility for his views.

He also notoriously fell out with author Paul Theroux, whom he had mentored, but the pair later reunited and resolved their differences.

Naipaul got a scholarship to study in England in 1950 and he came to Oxford University, where he met Patricia Hell. "I thought it was a big mistake".

The writer traveled as a self-described "barefoot colonial" from rural Trinidad to upper-class England, bagged the most coveted literary awards and a knighthood whilst being hailed by both, critics and peers alike, as one of the greatest English writers of the 20th century through his extraordinary career spanning half a century. His novel The Mystic Masseur was made into a 2001 TV movie. He spent time in Buenos Aires, Argentina to write about its former First Lady Eva Peron, and went to Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia for books about Islam.

Last month, Mr Naipaul's 1971 work In a Free State was shortlisted for the one-off Golden Man Booker, which marked the 50th anniversary of the Booker Prize.

"Sir Vidia's Shadow" described Naipaul as a racist, sexist miser who threw terrifying tantrums and beat up women.